I am on record as stating that Dioon spinulosum is THE best non Sago cycad for the bay area and prox. Trouble free,good grower,exotic with it's palm trunk .Not fast to trunk,but were talkin cycads-lol.
Just hit it with a good organic fert to bring out the blue green color. The freeze of 98 and 28f for three nights didnt make mine flinch-in a pot.
Darn that so many great tropical plants just are not planted here in the bay area because people just dont know that they DO grow here.

It's cold hearty all right, 2 winters ago it survived 4 days 19deg and 3wks in the low 20s with no over head protection.

What got me into this was the large specimen over at Strybing Botanical. Wanted a Cycad but something different from what everybody has. I've had about 10yrs, one of these day I'll put in the ground.

Can the Dioon Spinulosum grow in Santa Rosa, CA? If so, is there a problem with the wet winters, and how do you cultivate yours? I just bought a nice size one, but there is little info concerning zone 9a.

Nice!
They look very healthy and happy~

I just picked up a 5' Dioon spinulosum,they are said to be one of the fastest growing Cycads reaching 50'!

Very cool!

50 feet... in about 300 years.. life long and prosper!!

It will be the tallest cycad in Iowa.

If you want massive, get an Encephalartos laurentianus. Huge leaves. The trunk gets so heavy that the plant topples over. They are expensive though.

x

Show me a Encephalartos that isn't expensive!-lol